Is chocolate a drug and addictive?

Germany

First of all chocolate is a a delicious mixture of cocoa butter, that can include or not milk and sugar. Chocolate not only tastes good, it actually contains a number of substances which have a beneficial effect on health, as recent research has shown. It also contains large amounts of potassium and magnesium, small amounts of calcium and sodium, traces of iron, and vitamins A1, B1, B2, D, and E. Even if the appetite for chocolate sometimes seems very strong and makes it difficult to stop after the first piece, this is not the same thing as an addiction. You can only talk about an addiction if the following criteria are fulfilled:

• compulsive craving
• reduced control over use or consumption
• physical withdrawal symptoms
• saturation effects
• more or less exclusive concentration on use or consumption of the addictive drug
• continued use or consumption despite full awareness of harmful effects
• permanent fulfilment of at least three of these criteria

So it is a long way from enjoyment of chocolate to drug addition. In other words, the addictive potential of chocolate is no greater and no less than that of other foodstuffs, or even of sport.

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